The “Halo” sci-fi shooter, which originally debuted in 2001, is Xbox’s biggest videogame franchise. The previous installment, “Halo 4,” rang up sales of $300 million in the first week of release in 2012. The fourth and fifth titles are produced by 343 Industries, while the first three were from game studio Bungie.

Showtime Networks is in talks with Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios on a partnership for the “Halo” TV series under which episodes would run first on the premium cable network, Variety reported this month.

The Spielberg-produced “Halo” series “will stand alone, as well as complement and enrich the game experience,” Bonnie Ross, g.m. of 343 Industries, wrote in a blog post Friday. Microsoft plans to release additional details about the forthcoming “Halo” projects June 9 at the E3 tradeshow in L.A.

“‘Halo 5: Guardians’ is a bigger effort than ‘Halo 4,’” Ross said. “That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand-new and more powerful engine.”

Xbox Entertainment Studios chief Nancy Tellem touted the “Halo” series and a lineup of six other original shows and 11 others in development at its Digital Content NewFronts presentation for advertisers last month in New York.

The writer of this article seriously needs to check their facts. The second paragraph makes it sound like when Halo was first released and became a hit, it was being made by 343 Industries. However, Halo 4 has been the only one up to this point created by the above stated company. All previous Halo games were created by Bungie. Such things should be stated instead of misrepresenting it to appear that 343 Industries deserves credit for the amazing product that came out of Bungie. 343 doesn’t measure up to Bungie, and it should not be pretended that they do. Halo 4 may have gotten instantly popular upon release, but the number of players dropped off quickly as players returned to the much better games of Halo: Reach or Halo 3, or stopped playing Halo altogether. Halo: Reach, at times, has had as many participating players as Halo 4. I’ll be interested to see what Halo 5 brings if they are planning for much deeper things, considering Halo 4 was a massive let down to the franchise!